Champions League: Price & Smith Advance To Last Four With Wins
Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith joined Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright as the semi finalists in the Paddy Power Champions League.
Price secured his safe passage into the semi finals with a 10-6 victory against Daryl Gurney, who was sporting his freshly shaved head after raising over £11,000 for his chosen charity.
The Welshman powered into a 5-1 lead, thanks to some deadly accuracy on tops. Gurney did rally to trail 8-6, but a crucial 89 checkout from Price left him on the brink of the last four, which he duly confirmed with a double ten to book a meeting with Michael van Gerwen later this evening.
Peter Wright topped Group B, with a topsy-turvy 10-8 win against Rob Cross, who finished his campaign bottom of the group.
Cross had no chance of qualification, but a 140 finish gave him parity with “Snakebite” at 7-7. From there though, Wright was steady enough in seeing out a third straight win.
Wright will meet Michael Smith after he clinched a close 10-8 win against James Wade in what was a straight shootout to advance.
The first ten legs of the match were shared and there wasn’t much at all to separate the pair in a tense affair. After the break saw a change in quality, with Wade taking out 96, and Smith replying with a massive 170 checkout. Smith also took out a crucial 90 on the bull to break, and this was pivotal as his throw was rarely in danger as he saw out the match on double ten to book a showdown with “Snakebite”.
In what was effectively a dead rubber, Michael van Gerwen rounded off his group phase with a 10-4 win against Gary Anderson, who finished bottom of Group A.
Anderson started brightly enough, with a 152 checkout putting him 2-0 up. That was as good as it got for the Scot though, as van Gerwen moved through the gears with a 140 checkout of his own to build a 7-3 lead at the break. A 146 finish on double 13 was enough to round off a comprehensive victory ahead of his semi final clash with Gerwyn Price this evening.